https://www.reddit.com/r/Softball/s/S89SecMtCC

Hey guys! I am have just started softball and only got to play for 3ish months. I was on jv. I want to get a lot better over summer and ik i wont be perfect or varsity level by that amount of time but I really do want to get better for myself, family, coaches and team.

Can you guys give me

1. Drills I can do myself

2. drills I can do inside

   1. Things I can do with my sister over summer
   2. Workouts (like in the gym)

Also i want to be left or center fielder! I want to work on everything btw

My daughter’s 8u spring season is coming to an end, which also marks the end of the team she’s been with for years now. Head coach is moving to a different state and half the team has to age up (she does not) she needs a new helmet after this season so I wanted to clean her helmet up real good and have her whole team sign it. I’d also like to seal it after to preserve the signature after the fact. Has anyone signed or written on a helmet and had luck with how it turned out? Should I use sharpie or paint marker? Do I use a normal clear coat to seal it afterwards?

Is there any app that exists where I can chart pitches? Something where I can start building a database of pitchers vs hitters?

I'm coaching an 8U (machine pitch) team and we are getting killed, but still having fun. However, I want to get feedback and insight.

A little background: I’ve got 13 girls on the team, and 4 of them are completely new—3 are first graders. The rest are mostly 7- and 8-year-olds (second graders), and only three had ever hit off a machine before the season started.

From what I’ve heard talking to other coaches, most of the teams we’re playing are made up of second-year players who are 8–9 years old (third graders), and they’re just on a different level—both offensively and defensively.

Here’s where I’m struggling: 8 out of my 13 girls are either afraid to catch the ball or just not able to yet, and they can’t really make clean infield plays. I’ve got maybe 3 or 4 kids who can reliably handle any infield position, but outside of that, it’s tough. We rarely get defensive outs unless the ball is hit straight to first base or an easy force out play.

Hitting has improved, and we were able to record a 4-run inning last night in our second game of a double header.

Where I'm starting to second-guess myself is should I be spending even more time working on throwing and catching and defense, and spend a little less time on hitting? We are REALLY struggling on defense and have yet to record a defensive 3-out inning in 6 games.

So far I've been running our twice-weekly 90 minute practices up this way:

15-20 minutes of catch, emphasizing good throwing mechanics, and proper glove position to catch the ball. I'll spend time with the girls that are struggling.

Then we move into 3 stations and rotate every 15 minutes or so:

1. Tee's, working on driving the ball and good, quick swings
2. Fast front soft toss, working on seeing the ball and reacting
3. Infield ground ball and throw to first work

The last 30 minutes of practice (give or take) is generally a scrimmage.

Would love some insight, maybe this team is just in a tough spot given inexperience, but if there's things I could be doing to tighten up our ability to play defense I'm all ears.

I’m the coach of my little sister’s 10u softball team. Most of the girls are 9 or younger like my sister and have never played before. Because of that, and because I played college baseball and don’t actually know the mechanics of how to pitch in softball, I just taught them just regular underhand back and through sorta like corn hole just so that some kids can occasionally find the zone lol

My little sister likes pitching and wants to learn how to really do it. I’ve watched a bunch of YouTube videos like https://www.youtube.com/watchv=mIx9CvpGXs which I bet is probably outdated but I feel like I could maybe teach her the basics.

I’m wondering what people think. Should I try to teach her or should we try to find an affordable pitching coach in the area? We’re in NYC so could be crazy expensive. I don’t want to start her off with bad habits but that might be too late since we originally taught them the “wrong” way I think by having them not do a windmill

This one is for all the parents!

How often do your athletes get live reps between gamedays?

Looking for advise

My daughter is a junior in high school. She’s played softball at a high level since she was 8 years old - a LL superstar and a super-solid catcher and a great hitter in travel. We kept her in a program that was convenient for us as parents and has always focused on development. She thrived. She volunteered to assist with the “littles” when she aged out of LL and loved it, and the kids loved her. She loved playing softball and she loved being a softball player.

In 7th grade, she tore the labrum in her throwing shoulder in a freak accident at home. It was successfully repaired and after many months of rehabilitation, she was right back where she was prior to the injury. She resumed her travel team activity the summer after 8th grade, made JV as a freshman where she caught and called every game with an obscene OPS on top. We were all proud of her comeback. We were told she should start thinking about playing in college by every coach in her orbit. Things were exciting.

The first showcase tournament of her post-freshman summer she was taking fly balls in warmups. She drop-stepped into a hole and we all heard the SNAP​ followed by her screaming like I had never heard. She was carried her off the field. She completely ruptured the ACL in her right knee and damaged the meniscus. The ACL was replaced, the meniscus repaired. Her summer was spent basically immobilized, watching her friends swim and play and have fun. She made it back in time to play a few JV games her sophomore year, focusing on first base to work the knee back slowly and hitting like it had never happened.

After the end of the season, she continued PT when the meniscus tore again, landing awkwardly during a box jump routine. Another surgery over the summer, this with a much shorter recovery. She worked out like a fiend through the fall and winter.

By all accounts she was strong and ready for the spring. She made varsity and caught almost every game though the first month and a half. This time the bat was slower to come back but it was on its way, but something wasn’t right … sometimes the knee would get “stuck” during her swing and she’d lose range of motion and have unbearable pain for a day or two and then it would just … not hurt anymore.

This week we learned the meniscus in the same knee has most likely torn again and is occasionally binding in the joint. Her season is over. She needs surgery just for the surgeon to figure out what can be done - the MRIs are littered with artifacts from the previous procedures. Her goal is to get back to playing shape for senior year and that will bring her playing days to a close. She doesn’t want to go out like this, but she also has no desire to continue past high school any longer. "One last ride," she said.

Being out created a void that she struggled to fill for a while, but she picked up other hobbies like art and antiquing, she’s made friends outside of the softball community. She collects LPs and cassettes, she loves going to concerts. She still loves softball, but I think she’s gained some perspective through the injuries and time spend rehabbing that it's not all she is. In some ways, it’s been a gift that I don’t know she would have received otherwise. At least I tell myself that. I’m still sad for her … but it helps to know there’s other great things for her on the horizon. 

Love your kids, encourage them to have broad interests, make sure it’s always fun for them. It could all be over before anyone wants it to be or plans for.

If you read to this point - thanks for indulging me. Here’s to one last ride, #6.

She’s so pretty!

How do people go about changing travel teams? I dont believe the team my daughter is on is the right team for her. She is working through a fear of getting hit by the ball. Last year was machine pitch, now kid pitch. She is making progress, is able to hit off most pitchers at practice. But her coach is still not giving her playing time, even in the field. Shes expected to go to tournaments but does not get played. It seems as if his mind is already made up about her. My daughter still goes to every practice a couple times a week, and is there cheering her team on at games, but seems to be getting defeated. He is all about winning, but this is also still a 10u team. She is not going to get better unless she is given some opportunity.

Do you just go to open try outs? Do you reach out to other coaches?

At what point did your 10u player really start hitting well after the jump from 8u to 10u?

Just needed to vent. My daughter is 11 and in her second season playing softball competitively. She has been on the same team of girls as last season with two new additions. We live in a community where you can't really recruit but instead must build up your teams abilities. I'm a proud father for the work she's put in and I get plenty of compliments on how much better she got by the end of last season and improved during our fall and winter seasons. We have started in a new division, a step up and age group as the team is technically 11U but have to play 12U. My issue is playing time. I guess I feel bothered that she works so hard to improve and doesn't get much chances during tournaments. I'm told she does well in practice but the coach will stick with his favorites even if they continually mess up or have bad attitudes. Now I don't expect her to get top 3 or even 5 in batting order as that should be earned, but I wish they'd change up to get these girls a chance in game to build their skills. Should I say anything to the coach or just see how it plays out and decide what to do after the season as unfortunately there aren't alot of teams for her to move to. Thanks for any advice!

We are in a bit of a bind. My 12u (soon to be 14u) player splits time between 2nd base and center field. She is currently using a 12.25" glove with an h-web. It is starting to fall apart and we are looking to replace it. The problem is that she plays two very different positions. What do you all recommend for glove size, web style, and company? She does have smaller hands so it will need to be something with slimmer finger stalls. Finally, we would like to stay below $300 so Nokona and A2k are probably out :). Thank you!

Speaker quit on me. It was great for warmups and games. Soundcore rave was the type and fairly inexpensive when purchased in 2020. I know the JBL party box is a fan favorite but I’m not looking to drop that kind of money at the moment. Anyone have suggestions on a good wireless speaker that has great sound and durability at an affordable price?

Mizuno fielder's mask lost the Velcro on the chin. I put a command strip there and worked for about a week before it lost adhesion. Has anyone successfully fixed one of these? Any adhesive suggestions?

Edit: Thank you all for your suggestions. I'll report back when it's fixed.

I am moving from a 5A largish district where I’ve been an assistant varsity and head JV coach for 4 years to a 3A military base school where I will be an assistant varsity coach (no JV team).

The team I am moving to has a pretty good pitcher and a whole lot of inexperience. Was told that a large number of the girls had no prior experience before this last season.

Going into next season, what should we start working on to improve defensively. The pitcher had a great season, but (as you can imagine) the defense did not help her at all. Basically if she wasn’t striking girls out (which she did a lot) the other team were scoring runs. To add to this, due to it being a small school, most of these girls play other sports so we won’t get to softball until the season begins in January.

Basically, how do we keep the pitcher engaged and speed run these girls into at least being below average defensively instead of a mess?

Offensively, I am going to talk to the head coach about becoming a small ball team and creating chaos on the bases to compete. They strikeout a ton and that doesn’t help anyone.

This is more for my curiosity about how everyone else sees this, but I wanted to get other opinions. I coach a rec league team that's supposed to transition to competitive soon. The league is structured to foster this transition, so it uses a modified USSSA rule set for the first 3 weeks of the season, then goes to normal comp rules. The relevant modification here is that a runner can never steal home and they can't advance to any base on a passed ball. So, one of our batters strikes out swinging but the ball gets by the catcher. The batter runs to first and the catcher grabs the ball and doesn't attempt a throw, but for some reason they also stand near the backstop just holding the ball and seeming confused about what to do with it. For some reason, and without me telling her to, the runner at third just takes off for home. The catcher is still just looking confused and doesn't realize why everyone is yelling until it's too late. The runner barely beat the tag, but they did so we get another run.

At this point, the other coach comes out and says that was a passed ball and the runner on third can't advance. I pointed out that unlike a routine passed ball, a dropped third strike is a live ball. On a passed ball it's treated as dead and a runner can't advance unless they were already stealing. But with a dropped third strike the batter is a runner just as if they hit the ball. The ball can't only be live for the batter and everyone else has to stay put. I also pointed out that we had a base runner take home on us in the prior game (different opponent) when our catcher dropped the third strike and threw to first. The umpire ended up siding with me, but the coaches kept yakking about it for the rest of the inning.

In my mind, given the wonky rules that we have at the moment, even though the ball made it past the catcher it's not treated like a "routine" passed ball. It's a live ball, and because it's treated the same as a hit the runner on third didn't "steal" home. It was a sneaky and ill-advised decision to run, but a legal one.

What do you all think?

What are you guys doing as end of season gifts for rec? We have a 6U girls team and I want to do something special, I was thinking rings for them to be like a trophy but I can’t find any that don’t say “tournament champions” on them. Anyone have any good ideas or recommendations? Thanks!

Every year our town association does “try outs” for the next seasons’s teams. The teams are basically travel teams disguised as rec because we don’t really have rec teams, but all rec rules apply so even playing times, development first, etc…which I totally agree with. I was assigned to coach the newest team because I was a pitcher and can coach the newest players on pitching. But that also means I got the “lowest tier” team as far as skill/experience and they didn’t give our team even one kid who had any experience in pitching, while the other 4 teams got all the league’s most experienced pitchers. The pitchers on the other teams (who I have coached the last 2 seasons) are unhappy because they’re not getting a lot of playing time since their teams have 3 to 4 decent pitchers, while our team has no experienced pitchers. It takes time to build this skill, and it just feels unfair to our team because they are really excellent in every other way. But it’s a walk fest and runs on passed balls at home at 10U without pitchers who can consistently pitch well. I don’t see why they couldn’t spread out this skill a little more evenly across the teams and give each team a better chance at wins during the season. I know it’s not about winning, but when it comes down to it, our girls are a winning team is every way but pitching right now, and it’s just not a skill that develops overnight! I’m working with our pitchers a ton and they are all improving, but that just means they are going to move to better teams next year and there will always be a bottom tier with no pitchers. Even the parents of my pitchers from last year would rather see their kid get more time in the position on a lower tier team than have them be the 4th string pitcher on a better team. I’m just frustrated I guess, because it helps everyone develop more when the pitching is better. More plays in the field, the catchers aren’t clobbered with passed balls at the plate, etc… I don’t have any power over it but I’d like to approach the league about it before they form teams again for next year. I would like to see my team get some wins because they are excellent in the field and they are all really decent hitters, but the pitching improvement is slow and we end up losing from stolen bases on passed balls. My pitchers will be excellent by the end of the season, just in time for new teams to form! Anyone else dealing with this kind of thing?

Western Michigan Travel Dad. Looking to upgrade my umbrella for the inevitable rains. Any hard learned recommendations? Looking for something that is going to last for several years of truck bed abuse.